On Monday’s “Today” show, hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb got candid about some of the harsh comments they received early on in their TV careers.
“Sometimes people will tell you things you’re not right for,” Kotb recalled.
She said she played basketball in high school, so as a young TV reporter, she felt like she was in shape.
Kotb’s boss had a less flattering assessment.
“I still remember my boss going to me, ‘Hey, Hoda,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah?’ He goes, ‘Hey, I got an idea –– maybe you might wanna try to get on the treadmill.’”
“No!” Hager said, shocked.
Kotb couldn’t believe it at the time. She added, “If you don’t fit, they want you to wear something a certain way, cut your hair a certain way, speak a certain way.”
This prompted Hager to share her own story of being told what to do: A boss once told her not to say the word “y’all” on air.
“They were like, ‘Hey, y’all,’ isn’t for the whole country,’” Hager, who was born and raised in Texas, said. “And I was like, ‘Well, but it’s who I am.’
“It’s so weird — and this happens in life, too. If you have friends and then, all of a sudden, you’re acting not [like] who you are, and you’re like, ‘Wait,’ something in your gut feels wrong.”
Hager and Kotb both agreed that it’s hard to teach your kids to be their authentic selves if you can’t show up as your full self at work.
“If you try to pretend to be somebody else, it feels crazy,” Hager said.
“I think you know when you’re pretending, no matter what it is — and you start losing like who you are,” Kotb added.
December marks Kotb’s last full month with the network. She will be replaced by Craig Melvin early next year.